Last Saturday morning, 29 priests of the Prelature of Opus Dei were ordained at St. Eugene’s Basilica in Rome.
Newsroom( September 7, Gaudium Press) — Last Saturday morning, 29 priests of the Opus Dei prelature were ordained at St. Eugene’s Basilica in Rome. The ordination was presided over by His Eminence Pietro Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican’s Secretary of State. At the beginning of the liturgy, a letter sent by the Pope for the occasion was read.
On a letter read at the beginning of the ceremony, the Pope congratulated the 29 priests and their families.
The newly ordained priests came from Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, Chile, Uruguay, the Ivory Coast, Slovakia, Argentina, Costa Rica, the Netherlands, Uganda, Peru and Italy.
The priesthood is reached in a moment of great need
In the Letter, Francis says that “the new priests should consider, along with the greatness of the gift of the priesthood, the meaning of receiving it precisely in these moments of so much suffering in the world, in which the presence of the suffering and merciful Christ is especially palpable; a presence that the Lord wants to be realized through his ministry.”
In his homily, Cardinal Parolin put forward the figure of the Good Shepherd: “being a shepherd does not consist in a series of tasks but in a way of life.”
The shepherd, “doesn’t live where he wants to, but where it is best for the flock.” The shepherd “is not so much the one who guides others but the one who shares his life with the sheep”. The idea of the shepherd “does not refer to government but to life, and that is why Jesus characterizes the good shepherd as one who gives his life for the sheep.”
“The ministry you are undertaking, dear ordinands, involves your whole life, never forget it.” The new priests are not called “to do things but to give and share your life, and thus you will be able to fully carry out the call to act ‘in the person of Christ.’”. In this way “you will be able to incarnate the ‘style of Jesus’. You will be able to embody the ‘style of Jesus.’ Because as Saint Josemaría Escrivá writes, the priest – whoever he may be – is always another Christ.”
Cardinal Parolin concluded by emphasizing the need to always keep in mind the mission of “bringing to all men and women the voice of the good shepherd, so that they feel loved by Christ.”
At the end of the ceremony, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz, the Prelate of Opus Dei, thanked Cardinal Parolin for his presence. The Vatican Secretary of State had just returned from Beirut, as he visited the country to mark a month since the tragic events that shook the Lebanese capital.
The ordinandi
Among the ordinandi there is a former musician from Slovakia, a physician from Chile, an African veterinarian and a Spanish telecommunications engineer.
With information from Opusdei.org
